Just Add Ink #516 Friend Silhouette

Hello and welcome back to my first blog post in a little while. I've taken a little break as we moved into our new home and settled in to a new suburb. We are blessed with lovely neighbours and much more space than we've had in months and a lovely view of evening sunsets which will be amazing in Spring and Summer I'm sure. Melbourne is currently in week 3 of what will probably be more than a 6 week lockdown now for Covid 19 and it's a scary time for many of us. So being able to spend some time at the craft desk is very welcome and maybe its something that is helping you too with the restrictions and changes you may be facing too?! I'd love to hear how you are doing in your part of the world!

It's time for a new challenge at Just Add Ink and this week we have a gorgeous Photo Inspiration challenge for you from the lovely Jackie. You can take whatever appeals to you from the photo - the Christmas theme or the colours and patterns - this great pic has heaps of both! The design team had a great time creating cards to inspire you so I hope you'll pop on over and take a peek and we'd love you to join us!

These colours are some of my favourites and so I've used most of them and created a card for friend. That is what is great about Inspiration Photo challenges as you can pick and choose what you want to use as inspiration.

The base layer is Melon Mambo and the second almost hidden layer uses the Buffalo Check background stamp in Coastal Cabana. The top layer is of course water coloured and then some ink was flicked using the lid of the Aqua Painter to add a little detail. The pointing girl from Silhouette Scenes is embossed in the now retired Black Shimmery embossing powder and what looks to be white spots in the photo is in fact beautiful sparkles! To add to the sparkle the tree and "friend" are covered with liberal brush strokes of Wink of Stella.

After water colouring and then embossing, the white card top was somewhat warped.  To help flatten it I find adding a same sized piece of Thick whisper white card to the back of it helps to hold it flat again.

Card Stock: Melon Mambo, Whisper White- thick and standard

Inks: Coastal Cabana, Melon Mambo, Versamark

Stamps: Silhouette Scenes, Buffalo Check

Accessories: Sweet Silhouettes Dies, Well Written Dies, Shimmery Black EP (retired), Iridescent Sequins Assortment (retired), Wink of Stella

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you will take a moment to pop over to Just Add Ink and I look forward to seeing all your projects in the gallery this week.

Til next time,

Jan

Just Add Ink #507 Sketch Sympathy

Happy Friday to you and welcome!! It's the last weekend of Autumn in Australia and from next week the restrictions will ease a little more here in Victoria. Cafes will open for a small number of sit down customers for the first time in what seems like ages. Being cautious seems to be paying off in our little corner of the world which is good news.

This week at Just Add Ink we have a great Clean and Angled sketch for you from Jackie. A sketch is a great way to get the creative juices going as you just to have find images to fit the shapes provided. The design team have created some gorgeous cards to inspire you so I hope that you can pop on over to take a peek and we'd love you to join us!

I found this beautiful DSP that is retiring and decided to showcase it along with the Silhouette Scenes Dies that are staying on. One exciting product that is coming is some white sticky foam that we can die cut - that will make stacking multiple layers of card stock words a thing of the past! 

Blackberry Bliss and a layer of white card stock bring out the colours in this pretty paper and the Dandelion die cuts are my take on the circle sketch element. And yes - 3 layers of white card are underneath the gold layered sentiment to give it definition and strength.

To create the tag for the sentiment, I first embossed it with White Embossing Powder and then used the smallest Stitched Rectangle to cut it out. It gives a long, thin banner. To cut the sides down, simply use the width rectangle that you'd like the banner to be and that will give you the perfect size for whatever sentiment you need.

Card Stock: Blackberry Bliss, Whisper White, Gold Foil

Designer Series Paper: Lilly Impressions

Inks: Versamark

Accessories: Big Shot, Silhouette Scenes Dies, Well Worded Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies,White EP, Irridescent Sequin Assortment.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope that you can pop on over to Just Add Ink and I look forward to seeing what you will create with our fun sketch this week!

Til next time,

Jan

JAI #490 Easel Card Just Fur You

 Happy Friday to you and welcome!! It is another hot Summer's day in Melbourne today - a good day to be inside in aircon and to craft if time permits. This is a short week for those in Australia as we had our Australia Day holiday on Monday and the week has flown past.

So it's time for a new challenge week at Just Add Ink where the lovely Lou has chosen a fun one for us all - to "Just Add..... an Easel". Be that an Easel in an image or one of the many types of Easel cards, the choice is up to you. The design team had a field day with this and so it is well worth hopping over to the challenge blog and we'd love you to join us 😊

What is your starting point for making a card? Mine is the stamp set. Every time, whatever the challenge. Once I know what images to use, the ideas start to come. I had a special person in mind to create for this week too and knew that a yellow Lab needed to feature - so the stamp set was easy!  Like many card makers, I have loved making Easel cards over the years and decided to use this challenge to try something new, so this is a new Easel design to me inspired by another Jan, Jan B  😀

This card folds flat (like a top folding card) and fits in a standard C6 Envelope and that is something that helped my decision. I started by colouring the Lab with Copics - colouring out to white using the Colour Lifter (which you could do with SU or any alcohol inks too). 

The dog's collar, I drew onto another stamped image and coloured and fussy cut to fit as once again this is personalised for the recipient - one of the great things about hand making our cards.

I also love to mix and match products and have paired the Happy Tails Lab with the Dressed to Impress DSP.  This DSP is so pretty irl and so instead of putting the sentiment on the bottom layer to hold up the card as is usual, I fussy cut 3 of these delightful blooms to pop up and hold the card front as if in a sea of flowers.

Which left room for a sentiment inside instead! Most people know that I have a happy association with Guide Dogs Victoria as my beautiful Sally who now helps me came from them. So as this card is for someone special there, this sentiment from Silhouette Scenes seemed so perfect.

Card stock: Powder Pink, Basic Black, Whisper White

Designer Series Paper: Dressed to Impress 6x6 Stack

Inks: Momento Tuxedo Black, Versamark

Stamps: Happy Tails, Silhouette Scenes

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Stitched Nested Labels, Dog Punch, White EP, Metallic Sequins (retired)

Non SU, Copics : E31, Y21, 0

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope that you have a moment to pop on over to Just Add Ink and see all the fabulous cards the team have made to inspire you and I look forward to seeing how you decide to Just Add..an Easel to your creations this week!!

Happy days til next time,

Jan

See a Silhouette for JAI #472

Hello and welcome! It is the last Friday in August and very soon we will be celebrating the arrival of Spring. It hasn't necessarily been the coldest Winter on record but it sure has seemed like a long one. But the sun is rising earlier now and there are lots of pretty Cherry Trees in blossom in the streets.

This week at Just Add Ink we have a fun and striking sketch for you from Tina. You can use the sketch as is or flip it around to suit your creation. As always, our lovely design team have created a beautiful array of cards to inspire you so I hope that you can take a moment to pop on over to take a moment and join us.

My card this week was created using the See a Silhouette DSP that is partnered with the Silhouette Scenes stamp set. This paper is amazing and looks as though it's been created with the original Brusho selection.

The main flower is fussy cut and the the stem is created by die cutting a dandelion from the coordinating dies and layering it underneath the bloom. And the sentiment comes from the versatile Well Said bundle.

Card stock: Real Red, Whisper White
Designer Series Paper: See a Silhouette
Stamps: Well Said
Accessories: Big SHot, Well Written Dies, White EP, Gold Faceted Gems, Gold Pearls

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope that you can pop on over to Just Add Ink and see all the fabulous cards the design team have created to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you create with this fun sketch too.

Silhouette Wish for JAI #470

Hello everyone and welcome to another Friday. It's been a full and busy week in our household and I hope that you are looking forward to the weekend and a crafty project or two!

It's time for a new challenge at Just Add Ink and this week Jo has suggested this fun and versatile challenge for us all to use in our projects. No Stamping - so we encourage you to think outside your stamping box to all the other tools in your collection that you can use to make a card. Dies, papers, paste and memory making cards...the design team have many examples to show you so I hope you can pop on over an take a peek and we'd love you to join us!

I have fallen in love with the Silhouette Scenes stamp set and this time I get to use the dies and the DSP that goes with them. The DSP background has white and blue details that looks like it was created with water and Brusho. All of the DSP in this pack has a hand painted effect that is so beautiful! 

I've added the dandelion die cuts and sentiments from the Broadway Birthday and then created the "big" from cutting apart "birthday" and "groom" from the Well Written dies. The little heart is also part of the Written collection. I couldn't resist a little pop of pink to break up the pretty blue, white and silver hues. 😊

Card stock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Melon Mambo, Silver Glimmer

Designer Series Paper: See A Silhouette

Accessories: Big Shot, Broadway Lights dies, Stitched Nested Labels dies, Well Written dies

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope that you can take a moment to pop on over to Just Add Ink and see all the inspiration from our lovely design team and I look forward to see what you will create for this fun challenge too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Silhouette Scenes for JAI #469

 

  

Happy Friday folks and welcome!! Whilst we are coping with a Wintery blast this weekend, it is noticeable that Spring is on it's way. Slowly but surely, the sun is starting to rise earlier and set a little later. The doggies are going a bit crazy in the parks and the Wattle has started to flower....yes, Spring is in the air 😊

This week at Just Add Ink, Di has given us this rich and vibrant colour combo to use in our projects. The design team have created a beautiful variety of cards to inspire you so I hope that you can take a moment to pop on over and we'd love you to join us!

This colour combo looked perfect to create a background to use the new Silhouette Scenes bundle that has just arrived in my craft room so I pulled out the Sponge Brayers and got to work on Shimmery White card stock. 

The ink was heat set to ensure it was dry before stamping the grass from Enjoy Life and then the girl from Silhouette Scenes was stamped in Versamark and embossed using the new Shimmer Black EP.  It is sooo sparkly in real life with a mixture of pink, green and blue sparkles.

The tree was die cut and trimmed and the bird is also from Enjoy Life. 

And the inside was also decorated in the same way as the outside.

As I had created a couple of backgrounds with these rich colours, I couldn't stop at one card and created another. I needed a sun thanks to the sentiment poem, so a punched a circle' negative space became a stencil to sponge some White Craft Ink into and then a little more Grapefruit on top.

The Shimmer Black embossing powder has already become a favourite - quite cool IRL indeed!

This time all the images are from the Enjoy Life stamp set and I think it might be my favourite card of the two. What about you?

Card Stock: Pretty Peacock, Shimmery White, Whisper White, Basic Black

Inks: Pretty Peacock, Terracotta Tile, Grapefruite Grove, Versamark, Craft White

Stamps: Enjoy Life, Silhouette Scenes, Thoughtful Branches (Retired)

Accessories: Big Shot, Sweet Silhouette Dies, Shimmer Black EP, Stitched Nested Labels, 13/8" Circle Punch

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope that you can take a moment to pop on over to Just Add Ink to see all the fabulous inspiration from the team and I look forward to see how you will create using these colours this week too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan